


City of Blood: Paris

by PinstripesAndConverse



Category: City of Love: Paris (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 14:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14046138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinstripesAndConverse/pseuds/PinstripesAndConverse
Summary: An AU of the first meeting between the main character and Vincent Karm, inspired by thirsty4vincentkarm’s Vampire AU post on Tumblr.  Most of the dialogue is from the game, with some tweaks.  MC is named.





	City of Blood: Paris

_I’d love to throw Marion to the lions, aka Louise, but she doesn’t need more ammo at the moment. And it might result in Marion getting fangs of her own…Louise certainly isn’t fooling anyone by keeping her lips curled all the time._

Sophia sighed, her head aching slightly from the long day in front of her computer. Everyone except one or two copy editors had gone home; it was closer to morning than evening at this point, the office dim and silent. Except for that…ringing…

Oh. Her phone.

Her screen gave a number, a French number judging by the +33, that she didn’t know. Odd. Was it the person from before, calling to threaten her again?

_Another anonymous call?_

She swiped and waited a moment to raise her phone to her ear, hand trembling slightly.

“Ms. Cousland, I presume? I’m calling to personally apologize. The call you received on Friday was rather heavy-handed. My staff sometimes gets a little carried away, you see.”

The voice was male, deep and smooth, clearly at ease with cold-calling a stranger.

 _This must be the person Raphael was hinting at, then_. She thought.

“You! You ordered that death threat call?” She hissed, aware of her other two coworkers and the lack of background noise to cover her words. The last thing she needed was anyone else  _aware_  of her true reason for being hired.

“Death threat is such an ugly term…” She heard the amusement in his voice, as if his threat was merely a game played by schoolchildren. “I see it as being more of an…incentive…”

Was he  _for real_?

“You are one sick puppy!” Sophia growled softly, knowing her anger only played her right into his hands further.

“Why thank you, I do try my best!”

Why in seven hells was he so smug about all of this? He sounded flattered, genuinely flattered, at her insult. Just who was she dealing with?

“What do you want from me?”

“I want to meet you in person. Tonight. There’s a limo waiting for you outside your office. Nothing bad will happen to you. You have my word. My word is the only bond I have, but it’s impeccable!”

The call ended before she could get a word in and Sophia stared at her phone in disbelief. Promises were worth nothing from strangers, especially strangers who made  _death threats_  when she wasn’t even close to figuring out what precisely was going on. This wasn’t her first assignment to toss her into the fire, to have her confront those in power, political or otherwise. But there was a story to tell there. Truth for the people.

This? She only knew she was here to solve an ancient mystery. More of a historical digging to uncover the truth behind an old riddle, hardly worth the energy of anyone else, really. If she and Raphael were being threatened, then whoever wanted those letters had a lot of power, a lot of money, and a will that would not be denied.

 _His people are waiting for me outside?! That means…there’s no way out of this!_ She thought.

Sophia sighed. She didn’t have the energy for this but she knew she had no other choice.

 _Time to meet my enemy, then_.

* * *

She was led through a set of double doors, her driver and escort gesturing for her to wait while he spoke with the secretary in a clipped whisper. The secretary took a long glance at Sophia and nodded to the driver, rising from her seat as the man walked away. She was a pretty thing, a little severe looking with the telltale paleness and sharpened canines of the undead.

“This way, please, Ms. Cousland.” Her voice was melodious, pleasant.

Sophia followed the vampire through the second set of double doors and into an empty office. Her eyes were drawn to the massive wooden desk in the corner, at least a century old judging by the design; behind it, a dark green chair, upholstered in soft, tufted leather. The laptop was open, the screen glowing in the dim lighting from the modern chandelier and roaring fireplace.

Wood paneling. Sculptures. Paintings. One in particular of a pug and a banana, kitschy yet out of place. A Jeff Koons  _Balloon Dog_. Dozens of leather bound books, probably legal case studies and business books, judging from their design.

The only non-art pieces were the single red bonsai tree on the desk and the small arrangement of flowers underneath the painting of a woman dressed in ancient Greek attire, the figure’s eyes pointing towards the desk.

“Please wait here, Mr. Karm will be with you momentarily.”

With that, she was left alone, in the den of an unknown lion.

 _Who the heck is this Mr. Karm?_   _And where the hell am I? This place looks like the den of a wannabe Bond villain! A limo just showed up unannounced at my office and whisked me away for some secret midnight meeting!_ Sophia thought, gazing around, somewhere between curious and vaguely annoyed.  _Am I supposed to be impressed by this mysterious bigshot?_   _If you ask me, this Mr. Karm is stuck in the 90’s. Will he be as cheesy as his office décor? I bet he’s a sad has-been who thinks he rules the world._

“It’s not for everyone, I’ll admit…” That voice…the same one from the phone call. She heard soft footsteps and turned to see a tall man striding through the door, closing it without breaking his sentence. “But I’m incredibly fond of my den’s unique kitsch. It reflects an original sort of beauty, don’t you think?”

His dark brown hair was styled impeccably and he was dressed in a suit that seemed a mix of modern and traditional styles. The man’s black suit was paired with a green waistcoat and a chartreuse handkerchief. His tie seemed more cravat than tie and made of black silk. His green eyes were watching her under sharp eyebrows, assessing her. High cheekbones, slightly hollow cheeks, and goodness was he  _pale_. Paler than the secretary, probably.

She caught a glimpse of fangs when he spoke, his lips curling up just enough to reveal them. Likely a habit of working with humans, of  _threatening_ humans.

This had to be Mr. Karm, then.

_He’s fairly self-aware…most vampires don’t go all out on their appearances like this._

His eyes grew wide, a boyish innocence overtaking his features for a moment. “But where are my manners? Let me introduce myself.” His face fell back into its previous neutral expression, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I am Vincent. Vincent Karm. CEO of Karm International.”

 _And how long have you been Mr. Karm, precisely?_ Sophia found herself wondering.

“So, tell me,” he continued. “How do you like my private den?”

“Great!” Sophia remarked, easing a smile onto her lips. “I love the decadent ambiance in this room.”

Vincent hummed in approval. “So young and yet so… _tasteful_. No wonder Raphael hired you.”

She watched him take the seat behind his desk, leaving her standing in the center of the room, as if she were another one of his art pieces on display. He leaned back in the chair, eyes locking with hers again as she asked, “What am I doing here?”

“And direct too!” Vincent’s lips turned into a smile, his fangs fully revealing themselves for the first time. If he was trying to make her uncomfortable, it wasn’t working. She was too desensitized to Kat’s fangs to be shocked by his. “You want to know why I summoned you?”

As if noticing her lack of concern over the truth of his vampirism, he watched her as he continued. “You just started working at  _City of Love,_ right? Well, Mr. Laurent’s publication certainly is prestigious, but you’re squandering your talent on a futureless venture!”

He spoke so confidently, so  _sure_ he knew what the future had in store for her. This was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it.

But what did he want from her?

His green eyes narrowed on her as he continued, leaning forward to place his elbows on his desk and interlace his fingers. “You don’t really know how things work around here. Paris is not a city of love…it is a city of secrets.”

“What do you mean?” Sophia asked, raising her chin slightly. “Who’s keeping secrets?”

He chuckled darkly, his hands unfolding in order to form an open gesture with his hands. “Everyone, my dear. Everyone keeps secrets. Everyone lies. That’s ‘la règle du jeu’ around here, Ms. Cousland.”

“La règle du jeu?”

“The rules of the game, Ms. Cousland.” He flashed her another grin, this one a little more vicious.  “It’s high time you learned to play…”

 _The rules of the game? What game?_ She wondered.  _This is the furthest thing from a game._

He was one of the few vampires she met who seemed to care little, if at all, for the humans they shared the earth with. The humans they once were.

What if Raphael had set wheels in motion he didn’t quite understand or didn’t care to understand, with his quest to solve Heloise’s riddle? Vampires were a secretive race for a reason. He was skeptical of their existence from their very first meeting, talking about them as if they were myths and legends, stories little children tell each other with flashlights under their chins at sleepovers. Kat was her first encounter with the race and while she was shocked at first, Sophia quickly learned most of the evil aspects of vampires were heavily enhanced, a ploy to scare humans enough to think them impossible to exist.

“You’d better be more specific. I’m losing my patience.” Sophia said, casting her blue eyes over to the painting of a pug next to a banana. “Your fangs don’t scare me, Vincent Karm.”

His eyes ran up and down her form, somewhere between appreciative and hungry, although she wasn’t entirely quite sure blood was involved in that hunger. She wondered if he saw the two puncture marks at the base of her neck, the scar tissue barely obvious unless anyone knew to look for it.

“I have a proposition for you. It’s highly secretive, of course. But I think you might be interested in what I have to offer.”

 _You wouldn’t be the first vampire to say that to me,_  Sophia thought, forcing her eyes back to Vincent, attempting not to look bored by the dramatics.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking you know what I want.” She said softly, her anger burning softly, like warm embers.

“You have no idea how alike we really are, you and I.” She wondered if he meant his human self, his persona before he turned into a creature of the night. “And that’s precisely why I need you to come work for me.”

“I’m sorry but I already have a job.” She said firmly, jaw set. Of course, of  _freaking_ course the vampire would offer her a job! Barely in Paris a week and she was already being assaulted by a rival company.

“Indeed. I wouldn’t expect you to change your mind so fast.”

They watched each other in silence, annoyance and exhaustion burning in her eyes as she held his gaze. He didn’t look at her as most vampires did, seeing her humanity and coveting it, coveting the blood pumping beneath her skin, staring at her neck and thinking they were subtle.  No. There was respect, dare she think admiration, for standing her ground.

She wondered how many before her stood here and threw themselves on their knees, begging for eternity, for their dreams? All in exchange for their souls…

That wouldn’t be her.

She had seen Kat suffer with her side effects when she went too long without blood, when she ate too much human food without balancing out her true nature. When she forgot a jacket or her sunglasses and she had to drop them off to her before dashing off to her own class. Sophia let Kat drink from her  _once_ , only once, when she was in dire need and too weak to function, and she knew then the turning process was not something she ever wanted to endure.

There was a sharp knock at the door and the secretary peaked her head in. “Mr. Karm, your guests have arrived.”

“My apologies, Ms. Cousland. Duty calls.” Vincent rose from his seat and straightened his tie with a single hand before walking around his desk and to Sophia. “Meet me at the Opéra Garnier tomorrow at eight. I’ll send a car.”

The secretary held the door open as Sophia took his offer as a dismissal and left the office. The driver escorted her out of the building and offered to give her a drive home but she declined. She needed to walk, to think.

_I wonder what his game is. Well, I’ll find out soon enough._


End file.
